Meetings Today BlogIndustry experts discuss a variety of topics specific to the meetings and events industry.https://www.meetingstoday.com/blogAdd Elements of Theatre to Make Meetings That Inspirehttps://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/533/giving-meetings-a-theatrical-edgeAudio Visual,Education,Life-long learning,Speakers,Tradeshows,Value of meetingsFri, 04 Jan 2019 16:56:22 GMT<p>For years, I&rsquo;ve tried to understand why going to live theatre and experiencing a performance, usually not an interactive one, is more invigorating than going to a meeting or session at a conference.</p>
<p>Meetings and live theatre have so much in common:</p>
<ul>
<li>Seating</li>
<li>Delivery</li>
<li>Duration</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Seating</strong>: Oddly, what I rail against for many meetings is the seating styles. For meetings, straight theatre seating (rows and rows of chairs facing forward) makes me cringe.</p>
<p>When deciding what session to attend at a conference, even if the topic sounds worthwhile, if I peer into a meeting room set with straight rows of chairs&mdash;or, worse, one set schoolroom-style (straight rows of tables facing forward with little room to maneuver&mdash;and a stage with a lectern), I don&rsquo;t want to walk in.</p>
<p>Experience tells me the lights will be lowered and someone will speak from the stage with no opportunities to discuss the content throughout. Rather there will be, especially if I see aisle mics [shudder], &ldquo;Q&amp;A at the end&rdquo; of the session.</p>
<p>Yet, when I go to live theatre, seating&nbsp;is &hellip; theatre-style, albeit in usually more comfortable-than-banquet-chair seating (thank you, Ford&rsquo;s Theatre in Washington D.C. for finally getting better seating), and I don&rsquo;t question it.</p>
<p>One exception of seating is when we attend theatre-in-the-round such as at Arena Stage&rsquo;s Fichandler Stage <strong>(<a href="http://andrewmcgibbonphotography.com/virtual-tours/virtual-tour-enhancements/arena-stage-custom-virtual-tour" target="_blank">take a virtual tour</a>).</strong> I love the Kogod Cradle for its intimacy.</p>
<p>In what is fondly known as &ldquo;The Fich,&rdquo; part of my enjoyment, in addition to the production (most recently <em>Anything Goes</em>) is watching audience reactions.</p>
<p>It is a bonding experience just like in a meeting making eye contact with someone and sharing a smile or a nod of recognition of shared enjoyment or agreement, or yes, even the agony of a miserable presentation!</p>
<p>It brings an emotion and a community experience to the enjoyment.</p>
<p><strong>Delivery</strong>: While researching for this newsletter and blog, I came across this marvelous article that explains <strong><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-body-knows/201803/live-theater-do-we-need-it" target="_blank">why acting and theatre are so vital.</a></strong> Speakers often tell their stories and too often in the same words and manner that they&rsquo;ve told the same so many times, simply inserting the profession or group&rsquo;s name to whom they are speaking.</p>
<p>(Confession: I was, years ago, honored by the National Speakers Association (NSA) as a &ldquo;planner partner,&rdquo; an honor of which I am proud. Still, I find many &ldquo;motivational speakers&rdquo; to be ho-hum, delivering stories of hardship suffered and overcome that make me feel guilty on days I just don&rsquo;t want to get out of bed.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s not all speakers&mdash;some do an outstanding job of telling their stories to suit the particular audience to which they&rsquo;ve delivered&mdash;it&rsquo;s just too many who could deliver a story as if they were part of a stage production and don&rsquo;t).</p>
<p>Even TED Talks, which I learned are rehearsed and rehearsed, sometimes feel so stiff that, though I&rsquo;ve only experienced them virtually, seem almost as if delivered by robots.</p>
<p>TED Talks, like the old model of &ldquo;talk shows,&rdquo; once very popular in changing how content was delivered at meetings, have become the &ldquo;go to&rdquo; model in our industry and others for supposed different delivery. The mechanical performances feel less improvisational than if someone in a theatre production forgot their lines and filled in with spontaneity that made the audience feel delight &hellip; and relief.</p>
<p>Then there&rsquo;s this decry: if you have ever watched <em>The Rachel Maddow Show</em> [take her political POV out of the equation if it is not yours; look only at delivery], you know that Rachel talks, right at the camera <em>often reading from words that are shown on the screen</em>.</p>
<p>The graphics used are often documents out of which words are highlighted. She&rsquo;s doing what most decry: in essence, reading her slides!</p>
<p>What is it then that draws so many to TED Talks? To Rachel Maddow whose show has been judged to be more popular today than ever <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2018/12/31/msnbcs-rachel-maddow-hits-1-with-long-complicated-segments-viewers-love/#6b05629e4540" target="_blank"><strong>in this acknowledgement from Forbes?</strong></a></p>
<p>It must be the manner in which stories are delivered&mdash;with passion, in many cases with Maddow; with comfort when the TED Talks are not so rehearsed that there is nothing spontaneous in the delivery.</p>
<p><strong>Duration</strong>: Theatre productions are of many lengths, some performed without intermission. <strong><a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/04/29/526157986/-indecent-a-play-about-a-yiddish-play-that-was-ahead-of-its-time" target="_blank"><em>Indecent</em>,</a></strong>&nbsp;which was performed this past fall 2018 at D.C.&rsquo;s Arena Stage, was a shorter, no-intermission play. It was riveting in words, story, set, music and acting.</p>
<p>In one of two accompanying articles within the Friday With Joan newsletter, <a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/magazines/article-details/articleid/33087/title/how-live-theatre-can-be-brought-to-meetings" target="_blank"><strong>you&rsquo;ll see a comment from LeAnne Grillo</strong></a> about getting out of the head and into the heart.</p>
<p><em>Indecent</em>&nbsp;was in both my heart and head. I longed, as I do after some conference sessions, to carry on the conversation and not rush off to something else.</p>
<p>At meetings, we often don&rsquo;t allow time for reflection after sessions&mdash;either quiet personal reflection as one would do with <strong><a href="https://openspaceworld.org/wp2/" target="_blank">Open Space</a></strong>, if you were the only person interested in the topic or in conversation with others after sessions.</p>
<p>So rushed are we to move to a bio- or food break or another session (woe unto those who attend conferences with back-to-back-to-back activities and nary a minute between activities) that reflection or conversations about what we&#39;ve experienced or learned are either hurried or non-existent, limiting the staying power of the learning.</p>
<p>Some plays and musicals are 2 to 3 hours in length, sometimes with an intermission of 15 minutes. And for some that&rsquo;s too long to sit; for me, when I&rsquo;m engaged, it is perfect and with an intermission and an opportunity to chat with others, even better.</p>
<p>Why then are meetings cutting session length, even to 15 or fewer minutes?</p>
<p>I know it&rsquo;s difficult to vary the length of sessions although I think if we provided guidance for participants about how to reflect and consider what they&rsquo;ve learned versus running off to yet another activity, perhaps we could do better with the duration and delivery of sessions and the use of what was learned and its retention.</p>
<p>I asked Daniel Mayer, currently the executive director of <strong><a href="https://artscenterlive.org/" target="_blank">The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, North Carolina</a></strong> who has worked at a number of arts organizations and theaters including Book-It Repertory Theatre and The Empty Space Theatre, both in Seattle, what he saw as the elements of theatre that are not now being incorporated into meetings and why.</p>
<p>(Mayer is also someone who has attended many meetings in his professional life).</p>
<p>Dan responded: &ldquo;<em>I think that theater is very conscious of something called &lsquo;the fourth wall,&rsquo; the space between the stage and the audience and there is an engagement in a performance that is missing in meetings. There is never a moment that you &lsquo;get lost&rsquo; in a meeting ... unless you fall asleep and dream of something more interesting than the meeting.</em></p>
<p><em>Both meetings and theater can engage but theater creates a world and invites you to enter that world; meetings are more static than that.</em></p>
<p><em>I understand that there are meetings that are exceptions to the rule (and there is plenty of theater that is boring) but the definition of success for a meeting and for theater can be very different.&nbsp;And, the answer is not for facilitators to be theatrical&hellip;&rdquo;</em></p>
<h2>Experiential or Experience? Making Meetings &#39;Sing&#39;</h2>
<p>You&rsquo;ve heard talk of experiential learning or experiences for people to have at meetings and in general. <strong><a href="https://www.travelagewest.com/Travel/Adventure-Travel/Why-Experiential-Hotels-Are-a-Trend-That-s-Here-to-Stay" target="_blank">Even hotels are being designed to be &ldquo;experiential.</a></strong>&rdquo;</p>
<p>I asked colleague, <strong><a href="http://www.ideaarchitects.org/" target="_blank">Jeffrey Cufaude of Idea Architects</a></strong>, to help me understand the difference between experiential learning and experiences.</p>
<p>&ldquo;If you asked this question to 10 meeting planners, I am fairly confident you would receive a wide range of answers given the lack of clarity with which the term is applied,&rdquo; Cufaude said. &ldquo;A common thread among their responses would likely be [something similar to the differences between being]&nbsp;&lsquo;hands-on or interactive.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine, but achieving better results requires&nbsp;a more precise use of the term, one that specifies a deeper intention that can shape the meeting or session design,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p><strong>Here are three desirable possibilities to better engage participants:</strong></p>
<p><strong>1. First, think about <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=David+Kolb%E2%80%99s+experiential+learning+framework&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholart">David Kolb&rsquo;s experiential learning framework</a>.</strong></p>
<p>In it learners:</p>
<ol>
<li>have a concrete experience;</li>
<li>observe and reflect on their (and others&rsquo;) involvement;</li>
<li>form some generalizations and hypotheses based on the experience;</li>
<li>and then experiment and test them in new settings.</li>
</ol>
<p>Meeting designers and session presenters can include interactive elements that move participants through this cycle.</p>
<p><strong>2. Using deeply experiential formats</strong> that involve little formal presentation such as simulations, team exercises such as a ropes course, mock trials or debates, or case studies with role plays.</p>
<p>In such highly experiential formats, the learning comes from the doing, and it is surfaced and cemented in reflection, debriefing and discussion after the experience:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>What just happened?</em></li>
<li><em>What might it mean?</em></li>
<li><em>How, when and where might you apply these insights?</em></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>3. Attending more to the overall experience design</strong> as explored by B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore in their book <em>The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage</em>.</p>
<p>After identifying core values or attributes they want associated with their conference, meeting designers would do a deep dive into identifying how to infuse them into every choice made for every element of the meeting experience.&nbsp;I often frame this as &ldquo;clarifying the macro intention that should inform micro attention and choices.&rdquo;</p>
<p>[See Ken Fischer&rsquo;s example in one of two accompanying Friday With Joan newsletter articles <a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/magazines/article-details/articleid/33087/title/how-live-theatre-can-be-brought-to-meetings" target="_blank"><strong>that provides guidelines for creating a theatrical experience</strong></a>].</p>
<p><strong>I also asked Jeffrey what makes a session &ldquo;interactive&rdquo; and/or &ldquo;engaging&rdquo;? </strong></p>
<p><strong>He responded:</strong> &ldquo;Simply put, an interactive session intentionally shifts participants from <em>passive consumers</em> of the content and community to <em>active participants</em> in their co-creation.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Speakers move from talking at participants and presenting information to facilitating learning through use of session elements that effectively blend their ideas and insights with participants&rsquo; knowledge and experiences,&rdquo; Cufaude said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;A common mistake is to equate interaction or engagement with verbal participation,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Smart presenters diversify their teaching techniques and learning formats to engage both introverted and extroverted learners, helping deepen and enrich participants&rsquo; interactions with themselves, the content and the session community.</p>
<p>&quot;I wrote about these considerations in a three-part blog series starting with <strong><a href="http://www.ideaarchitects.org/2015/07/you-need-to-make-your-presentation.html" target="_blank">You Need to Make Your Presentation Interactive</a></strong>,&quot;&nbsp;Cufaude said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Many variables influence what interaction and engagement elements to incorporate, including: content suitability; general participant preferences; session length, scheduling, and room set; number of participants; and presenter competence and confidence.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Conference designers should help presenters become better facilitators of learning overall, as well as provide coaches who can help them adapt their specific session content and formats,&quot; he concluded.</p>
<h2>Experiential or Experience Part II: It&rsquo;s All About Feeling</h2>
<p>At this point after emails and conversations and reading, I felt in need of a psychotherapist and a couch to sort this all out!</p>
<p>Instead I turned to Cricket Park (aka The Rev. C.B. Park, Rector of <a href="http://www.redeemerbethesda.org/" target="_blank"><strong>The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer</strong></a> in Bethesda, Maryland, a former association executive and meeting professional best known for her expertise on the ADA).</p>
<p>Her background in meetings, associations, creating engaging religious services, tap dance, and a love of theatre, I knew would help in my journey to differentiate experiential and experience.</p>
<p>The common element, she said, was that the experiences that made a difference were the ones that were <em>felt</em>.</p>
<p>In this article from <em>Psychology Today </em>titled <strong><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-body-knows/201803/live-theater-do-we-need-it" target="_blank">&ldquo;Live Theater: Do We Need It?&rdquo;</a></strong> it says &ldquo;Live theater is thus a way of being together that nourishes in each individual the resilience, the hope, the joy, the courage, the focus, and the determination that we each need in order to keep creating the worlds in which we&nbsp;want to live&mdash;on stage and off.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Isn&rsquo;t that what we want from a meeting?</p>
<p>Isn&rsquo;t this what we want as a result of attending meetings and conferences?</p>
<p>How will we achieve it? How will we bring our partners, including hotels, convention centers, even conference centers; AV providers; speakers; everyone who touches a meeting&mdash;including those who attend&mdash;along on this journey to better meetings?</p>
<h2>6 Suggested Actions to Help Add Elements of Theatre to Your Meeting:</h2>
<p><strong>1.</strong> Pay attention to what you see, experience, and feel when you attend a live theatre event or concert. If you don&rsquo;t usually attend theatre, find a local production and go. Think of it as being a &ldquo;first-timer&rdquo; at a meeting. Make notes of the experience.</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> From that experience, consider what elements could enhance your meetings and how you can use them.</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Talk with those who plan the content and delivery for your meetings&mdash;trainers, executives, planning committees&mdash;and those who service and support your meetings.</p>
<p>Ask them what they gain from a live non-meeting event. Then discover together what you can incorporate into your meetings to heighten the experiences.</p>
<p><strong>4.</strong> Observe audiences at theatres (movies too) and concerts and at your meetings. See where you can, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-body-knows/201803/live-theater-do-we-need-it" target="_blank"><strong>as noted in the <em>Psychology Today </em>article referenced above</strong></a>, nourish each individual at your meetings.</p>
<p><strong>5.</strong>&nbsp;Once you decide to make changes&mdash;perhaps using theatre-in-the-round seating or involving the participants in smaller group problem solving&mdash;explain to those attending why and how to take advantage of the changes.</p>
<p>With guidance, we can ensure that audiences will accept how we move changes along.</p>
<p><strong>6.</strong> Reread this blog from 2016 with <strong><a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/271/6-ways-to-change-meetings" target="_blank">some additional ideas</a></strong> to change up your next meeting. Subscribe to Jeffrey Cufaude&rsquo;s <strong><a href="http://www.ideaarchitects.org/" target="_blank">Idea Architects blog</a></strong> to gain even more insights.</p>
<p><strong>To close out this blog post:</strong> My thanks to the following people, in no particular order, who provided input for this blog post and newsletter.</p>
<p>Even if I didn&rsquo;t use your words, you informed me with your thinking about what you felt and learned from theatre, concerts, and from meetings:</p>
<p>Jeffrey Cufaude, Charlotte St. Martin, Harold Marcus, Laura Daigle Porter, Gail Mutnik, LeAnne Grillo, Quiana Tyson, Tim Barrett, Allison Dossett, Deborah Breiter Terry, Steven Marchese, Niesa Silzer, Staci Blue, Shannon Henson, Jon Trask, Annette Suriani.</p>
<p>If I forgot to add your name, it was my error. I read every single response with respect and interest and am grateful for your input.</p>
<p><em>Editor&rsquo;s Note: The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</em></p>
<p><strong>Related Reading From the January 2019&nbsp;Edition of Friday With Joan</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/magazines/article-details/articleid/33086/title/charlotte-st-martin-putting-theatre-in-meetings" target="_blank"><strong>Charlotte St. Martin: Putting Theatre in Meetings</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/magazines/article-details/articleid/33087/title/how-live-theatre-can-be-brought-to-meetings" target="_blank"><strong>How Live Theatre Can Be Brought to Meetings</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://goo.gl/forms/oJFS89TYVEatuzuy2" target="_blank"><strong>What&#39;s Your Take? January 2019&nbsp;Planner Survey</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/newsletters/friday_with_joan/2019_01_04.html" target="_blank">Click here to view additional content in the 01.04.19 Friday With Joan newsletter.</a></strong></p>
<div class="author-section">
<p><strong>Posted by Joan L. Eisenstodt</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Joan Eisenstodt Headshot" src="/Portals/0/images/2018/Friday_With_Joan/Joan_Eisenstodt_Author_Bio_200.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;" title="Joan Eisenstodt Headshot" /></p>
<p><strong>Follow Joan on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/joaneisenstodt" target="_blank">@joaneisenstodt</a></strong></p>
</div>
53318 Questions to End One Year and Begin a New Onehttps://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/313/18-questions-to-end-one-year-and-begin-a-new-oneADA,CSR,Diversity & Inclusion,Education,Future Forecasting,Hospitality,Hotels,Sustainable Meetings,TradeshowsThu, 21 Dec 2017 01:00:56 GMT<p>Were you expecting predictions for the coming year?</p>
<p>2017 has been so tumultuous for the world and for our industry that it seems futile to try to predict what&rsquo;s to come. Oh yes, futurists, economists and others are doing so.</p>
<p>A search for our industry&rsquo;s future turned up lots of predictions, mainly for hotel owners and operators, restaurants, etc. To search, I used &ldquo;predictions for hospitality industry for 2018&rdquo; and suggest you do the same. I also hope you will continue to follow the Meetings Today newsletters, daily print and digital news, and <a href="https://twitter.com/meetingstoday" target="_blank">@meetingstoday</a> on Twitter to see what will happen in the year ahead and beyond&mdash;no one can say with 100% certainty.</p>
<p>I am left with questions again this year&mdash;some serious and some more mundane, in no particular order&mdash;about what we do, how we do it, and why, and what will be. I hope you&rsquo;ll add your questions and perhaps your predictions, hopes, dreams for our industry and for you in the comments section at the end of this blog post.</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m wondering:</p>
<p>1. Why do hotels put signs in bathrooms stating &ldquo;if one wants to reuse towels to hang the towels up&rdquo; &hellip; and then have no bars on which to hang them?</p>
<p>2. In what ways can we convince hotels that an ADA room is not necessarily what a person who is deaf or hard of hearing or otherwise in need of accommodation wants?</p>
<p>3. How do we convince hotels, convention centers, and even some conference centers (<a href="http://www.iacconline.org/">IACC</a>&nbsp;please also&nbsp;take note!) that using <a href="http://http/www.thrival.com/store" target="_blank">&ldquo;Seating Matters&rdquo;</a>* by <a href="http://www.thrival.com/meet-paul-radde/bio" target="_blank">Paul Radde, Ph.D</a>., so that rooms not set in straight rows (of chairs or tables) make more sense?</p>
<p>4. In what ways will meetings be more accommodating for people with mobility and other disabilities?</p>
<p>5. Similarly, when will airports and airlines and you, TSA and <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/precheck" target="_blank">TSA PreCheck</a> in particular, follow their own policies to ensure equal and appropriate treatment for people with disabilities?</p>
<p>6. Which groups and which professions will continue to include discussion throughout educational sessions at meetings versus having aisle mics with &ldquo;Q&amp;A at the end&rdquo;?</p>
<p>7. Which hotel companies and cities will implement greater safety for their staff, housekeepers in particular [watch for upcoming January 2018 edition of <a href="file:///C:/Users/Eric.Andersen/Desktop/https/www.meetingstoday.com/newsletters/friday_with_joan/current.html" target="_blank">Friday With Joan</a>], to protect them against sexual and other predatory behavior from internal and external guests?</p>
<p>8. Will room service really end, even at hotels advertised as &ldquo;high end&rdquo; or &ldquo;luxury,&rdquo; and will it be replaced by dinner in disposable containers delivered in paper bags?</p>
<p>9. Who, in the broader hospitality industry, will model what <a href="https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org/what-we-do" target="_blank">Chef José Andrés and his foundation</a> have done in Puerto Rico, Houston, Haiti and elsewhere to help others, and when?</p>
<p>10. What will be the maximum in added fees that airlines and hotels tack on before consumers and groups say &ldquo;Enough! We&rsquo;ll pay higher rates to not be nickel-and-dimed&rdquo;?</p>
<p>11. In what ways will meetings and tradeshows change to make them as experiential as everyone says they should be and <em>for all people including those with cognitive and other different abilities</em>?</p>
<p>12. What policies will be enacted by the U.S. government and/or U.S. President Trump to further restrict who can work in our industry and attend and speak at our&nbsp;meetings?</p>
<p>13. In addition to <em>Meetings Today</em> and other industry-specific publications, what will you add to your reading and listening to be more informed about world events and their impact on who we are and what we do?</p>
<p>14. Will meeting professionals (you choose who&rsquo;s in that category) gain greater respect, recognition and pay for what we do? What will cause it to happen?</p>
<p>15. In what ways will sustainability&mdash;beyond &ldquo;no handouts&rdquo; (<em>still!</em>, <a href="file:///C:/Users/Eric.Andersen/Desktop/https/www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away" target="_blank">regardless of research</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-handwriting-make-you-smarter-1459784659" target="_blank">this article</a> noting that many learn better writing notes on paper, whether that paper is from trees or other sources)&mdash;be implemented in hospitality and for meetings?</p>
<p>16. How will multiple generations at meetings and in the workplace learn to get along <a href="https://nyti.ms/2k24FlY" target="_blank">since those in the Boomers, Silent and GI generations aren&rsquo;t retiring</a>?</p>
<p>17. What are your top three (3) subjects to learn about or expand your knowledge of in the coming year?</p>
<p>18. Who will be the first well-known hospitality or meetings industry person to be charged with sexual harassment and what will happen as a result?</p>
<p>(Stay tuned for the next <a href="file:///C:/Users/Eric.Andersen/Desktop/https/www.meetingstoday.com/newsletters/friday_with_joan/current.html" target="_blank">Friday With Joan</a> on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, for more on this).</p>
<p>So there you have it, my partial list of questions to end one year and begin the next. Help expand the list. It&rsquo;s known that the <a href="https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/the-importance-and-impact-of-asking-good-questions" target="_blank">more and better questions we ask</a> the greater and more informed what we know and do will be. And don&rsquo;t forget about the great facilitation techniques of <a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/newsletters/friday_with_joan/2017_12_01.html" target="_blank">&ldquo;tell me more&rdquo; and &ldquo;yes, and&hellip;&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;to help you on your journey.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading this, for communicating with me, for being part of a dynamic industry that can change the world. Thank you to the editors at Meetings Today and in particular to Eric Andersen (who better not edit this out!) and Scott Easton (ditto) for the great editing and design work to ensure a readable newsletter each month and to Tyler Davidson for his example of asking good questions.</p>
<p><em>Editor&rsquo;s Note: I didn&rsquo;t edit out your thanks, Joan! Also: Added thanks to Kristi Kidd, in addition to Scott, for her design work&nbsp;on Friday With Joan and her patience and positive attitude.</em></p>
<p>My wish for each of us and for our world is that we all may show and/or share and have access to kindness, compassion, good health, affordable housing and childcare, food on all tables, tables on which to put food and a roof over every head (this is especially for you, Puerto Rico!), and inclusion of all whether it&#39;s at meetings or elsewhere.</p>
<p><em>Additional Editor&rsquo;s Note: The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</em></p>
<p>*Disclaimer: I wrote the foreword for Paul Radde&rsquo;s book, &ldquo;Seating Matters&rdquo; and received no compensation for that nor do I receive compensation for promoting Paul.</p>
<div>
<p><strong>Posted by Joan L. Eisenstodt</strong></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/JoanEisenstodt_headshot_ver2.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Follow Joan on Twitter:&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/joaneisenstodt" target="_blank">@joaneisenstodt</a></p>
</div>
313Can Meetings Help Alleviate a Major Healthcare Epidemic?https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/311/can-meetings-help-alleviate-a-major-healthcare-epidemicCSR,Diversity & Inclusion,Future Forecasting,Hospitality,Hotels,Teambuilding,Tradeshows,Value of meetingsFri, 03 Nov 2017 14:23:10 GMT<p>Vivek Murthy, MD, who served as the 19th U.S. Surgeon General, and someone whose life and work have made a great impression on me, wrote, <a href="https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/09/work-and-the-loneliness-epidemic" target="_blank">in this <em>Harvard Business Review</em> article</a>, about his family&rsquo;s experience after Hurricane Andrew: &ldquo;Looking today at so many other places around the world ravaged by disasters of all kinds, I think about how often tragedy brings us together&mdash;and how fleeting that connection often is. &hellip;</p>
<p>&ldquo;There is good reason to be concerned about social connection in our current world. Loneliness is a growing health epidemic. We live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s. Today, over <a href="https://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/loneliness_2010.pdf" target="_blank">40% of adults in America</a> report feeling lonely, and research suggests that the real number may well be higher. Additionally, the number of people who report having a close confidante in their lives has been declining over the past few decades. In the workplace, many employees&mdash;and&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2012/02/its-time-to-acknowledge-ceo-lo" target="_blank">half of CEOs</a>&mdash;report feeling lonely in their roles.</p>
<p>&ldquo;During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness. The elderly man who came to our hospital every few weeks seeking relief from chronic pain was also looking for human connection: He was lonely. The middle-aged woman battling advanced HIV who had no one to call to inform that she was sick: She was lonely too. I found that loneliness was often in the background of clinical illness, contributing to disease and making it harder for patients to cope and heal.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As I read Murthy&rsquo;s article on &ldquo;the loneliness epidemic,&rdquo; my thoughts turned to meetings&mdash;conferences, seminars, conventions&mdash;some with a few people where it&rsquo;s easier to feel lonely if one is new or has less in common with others, or is an &ldquo;other&rdquo; than the majority attending&mdash;an &ldquo;outsider.&rdquo; And then there are those large-scale meetings of hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands where you&rsquo;ve come with colleagues you may or may not know well or with whom you may not feel comfortable around in a different setting. Or you may have only had a virtual connection to them&mdash;as many of us in the hospitality and meetings industry do when we attend a meeting&mdash;and you may still feel lonely.</p>
<p>I thought about the desire for connection during the first months of the MIMList (the first meetings industry virtual discussion group founded by Rod Marymor as part of the MIM &ndash; Meetings Industry Mall) that I moderated and how many wrote asking &ldquo;Is anyone attending [fill in the blank name of an industry meeting] so we can all meet face to face?&rdquo; All because no one likes being alone or lonely at a meeting or event.</p>
<p>Yes, there are many of us Introverts who <a href="http://www.garboforever.com/I_want_to_be_alone.htm" target="_blank">&ldquo;want to be alone&rdquo;</a> because <a href="http://16-personality-types.com/mbti-four-dichotomies/extraversion-introversion/" target="_blank">that&rsquo;s how we recharge</a>, but we don&rsquo;t want to feel lonely. Meetings are designed specifically for connections: years ago, <a href="https://www.mpiweb.org/foundation" target="_blank">MPI&rsquo;s Foundation</a> conducted ground-breaking studies about why people attend corporate and association meetings. The studies indicated that one of the main reasons people attended meetings was &ldquo;networking&rdquo; or as I came to call it, &ldquo;peer to peer interaction and learning&rdquo; (Sadly, the studies are out of print; I do have PDFs that we will get to you if requested&mdash;email me at <a href="mailto:FridayWithJoan@aol.com?subject=Friday%20With%20Joan%2011.03.17%20MPI%20Networking%20Study">FridayWithJoan@aol.com</a>).</p>
<p>As I read Dr. Murthy&rsquo;s comments and as I thought about my own experiences with organizations and at meetings, as a first-timer and as a &ldquo;veteran,&rdquo; I remembered:</p>
<ul>
<li>My first MPI Chapter (<a href="http://www.mpipotomac.org/" target="_blank">PMPI</a>) meeting in D.C. when Bill Myles (now of blessed memory) came up to me as I hugged a wall, introduced himself, and invited me to serve on the Membership Committee!</li>
<li>Then my first national <a href="https://www.mpiweb.org/" target="_blank">MPI</a> meeting in 1984 when, though I was president of PMPI, I didn&rsquo;t know others. Weldon Webb and Beverly Kinkade, both from the St. Louis Chapter (<a href="https://www.mpistlouis.org/" target="_blank">SLAMPI</a>), took me under their wings. Oh how much easier it was to participate and meet others and to commit to greater involvement!</li>
<li>At my first <a href="https://www.iaf-world.org/site/" target="_blank">International Association of Facilitators (IAF)</a> when I walked into breakfast of 1,200 and thought I&rsquo;d find a table in a corner until, when walking by three people deep in conversation, they invited me into their conversation and to a seat at their table. Included, I felt less lonely and became involved.</li>
<li>Patti Shock and Ed Polivka (he now too of blessed memory) who, at my first <a href="https://www.pcma.org/" target="_blank">PCMA</a> meeting, welcomed me with smiles and conversation ensuring I was included.</li>
<li>And at my first meeting as an MPI delegate (thank you Doug Heath for appointment me) to the (then) Convention Liaison Council (now the <a href="http://www.eventscouncil.org/" target="_blank">EIC</a>) Board meeting when Bill Gehron representing HSMAI, Keith Sexton-Patrick representing ACOM (now ESPA), and Sandi Lynn representing SGMP, all included me in conversations and my loneliness disappeared and my involvement grew. The two often seem to be related!</li>
</ul>
<p>What is the obligation for those in the hospitality industry (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality_industry" target="_blank">definition a</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hospitality" target="_blank">definition b</a>) to help people feel less lonely? How can meetings help alleviate the loneliness epidemic and contribute to better health, just as we&rsquo;ve added healthier foods, yoga, fun runs, policies to combat sexual harassment and to ensure diversity and inclusion?</p>
<p>How do we do it? Here are some ideas.</p>
<p><strong>1. Understand the roots of loneliness.</strong> Dr. Murthy <a href="https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/09/work-and-the-loneliness-epidemic" target="_blank">in <em>Harvard Business Review (HBR)</em> wrote</a>: &ldquo;Loneliness is the subjective feeling of having inadequate social connections.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He went on to say &ldquo;Happy hours, coffee breaks, and team-building exercises are designed to build connections between colleagues, but do they really help people develop deep relationships? On average, we spend more waking hours with our coworkers than we do with our families. But do they know what we really care about? Do they understand our values? Do they share in our triumphs and pains? This isn&rsquo;t just bad for our health; it&rsquo;s also bad for business. Researchers for Gallup found that having <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/127043/friends-social-wellbeing.aspx" target="_blank"><em>strong social connections</em></a> at work makes employees more likely to be engaged with their jobs and produce higher-quality work&hellip;&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Connection can also help indirectly by enhancing self-esteem and self-efficacy while also shifting our experience toward positive emotions&mdash;all of which can buffer an individual during stressful situations and have positive effects on health. Indeed, studies have found that companies whose workers feel they have high-stress jobs have markedly higher health care expenditures than their counterparts with low-stress employees. &hellip; My experience has been that people bring the most to their work when they feel connected to the mission and the people around them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>No kidding! Because of all those who invited me into conversation and allowed us to get to know each other as individuals as well as colleagues, I immersed myself in our hospitality industry. Where would I (or you) be today if someone hadn&rsquo;t taken time to include you? And I&rsquo;m sure we can all think of times where we <em>weren&rsquo;t</em> included.</p>
<p><strong>2. Create opportunities for deeper connections.</strong></p>
<p>Dr. Murthy, as Surgeon General wrote about his work with staff, new to him and he to them: &ldquo;To bring us closer, we developed &ldquo;Inside Scoop,&rdquo; an exercise in which team members were asked to share something about themselves through pictures for five minutes during weekly staff meetings. Presenting was an opportunity for each of us to share more of who we were; listening was an opportunity to recognize our colleagues in the way they wished to be seen. I share what my office did not as the antidote to loneliness but as <strong><em>proof that small steps can make a difference</em></strong> <strong>[emphasis by Joan].</strong> And because small actions like this one are vital to improving our health and the health of our economy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>I asked in a number of social media groups about how people felt as first-timers or if they felt lonely at meetings, especially if they were at a meeting at which they knew few, if any, others. The responses reflected the sense of isolation many felt, some believing that &ldquo;first-timer&rdquo; designations made them stand out and they were only approached by those who were told (often board members or executive staff) to do so.</p>
<p>This response, slightly edited, is from colleague and friend, <a href="http://getmespark.com/about/about-spark/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Engel</a>. In this narrative, she is describing who makes what efforts at meetings and events:<img alt="" src="/Portals/0/images/2017/Friday_With_Joan/Elizabeth_Engel_FWJ_11_03_17_web.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; height: 300px;" title="" /></p>
<p>&ldquo;My first time at a [association related to hospitality and meetings] event in 2000. I&rsquo;d only been in the profession for a few years, and I didn&rsquo;t know anyone outside the confines of my own association employer and the staff members of our three &lsquo;sister&rsquo; associations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The conference was in the city in which I live and work, and being my first conference with this organization, I didn&rsquo;t realize that I should clear my evening schedule for the receptions and parties that would take place in conjunction with the event.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So I went to sessions, sat in the back of the room all by myself, didn&rsquo;t really talk to anyone, and scurried off at the end of the educational program each day to keep my evening commitments. In short, I was the attendee with no friends.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I did learn a lot, but I kind of missed the point of an in-person event: I didn&rsquo;t expand my network at all.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t attend another large association conference for another two years. [When I did return to this conference] I still didn&rsquo;t really know anyone outside my (still the same) employer and (still the same) &#39;sister&#39;&nbsp;associations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But in the interim, I&rsquo;d learned two key things: keep my evenings free, and make the first move. I knew it was on me to create a better outcome, and I did. This time, I pushed myself outside my comfort zone to look for the other person in each room who didn&rsquo;t seem to have any friends, go over to her, and ask her a question about herself, which is the easiest way for introverts [and others!] to get conversations with strangers going.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That was the start of building the professional network that has sustained me for the past twenty years, through multiple job changes and launching my own business five years ago.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>3. &ldquo;Make strengthening social connections a strategic priority in your organization&rdquo; </strong>said Dr. Murthy, and to which I add, <strong><em>and in and at your meetings</em>.</strong></p>
<p>To what Elizabeth learned and did and what Dr. Murthy suggests and the MPI Foundation studies indicate, and what we know from our own experiences and observations, when our noses are in our electronic devices at meetings, peer to peer interaction and learning can&rsquo;t easily happen. If we set participation examples and explain why we are doing so, we may be able to turn around the current usual behavior and help people create better connections that can lead to more involved members.</p>
<p>More involved members become informed and active participants in our professions, which leads to more commitment to buying and selling from those we know.</p>
<p><strong>4. Change tradeshow interactions.</strong></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s not just the brief hello on the tradeshow floor for buyers to obtain <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/tchotchke" target="_blank">tchotchkes</a> or a chance to be entered into a drawing [oh ... ethics, a discussion for yet another time!] or for sales and marketing professionals to get a name to add to the database. Deeper connections can be made with real conversations like one I had with colleague Marlys Arnold at ExhibitorLive with an exhibitor in a wheelchair about shows and the ADA.</p>
<p>As Dr. Murthy wrote we need to &ldquo;<strong>Encourage coworkers</strong> [and in our world, meeting participants and tradeshow exhibitors]<strong> to reach out and help others&mdash;and accept help when it is offered.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong>Read on to the sidebar <a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/Article-Details/RegionID/0/ArticleID/31534" target="_blank">to the interview with Dr. Vivek Murthy</a> to see more of what he has to say about how meetings can help people feel less lonely.</p>
<p><strong>5. Encourage interactive education.</strong></p>
<p>Many of us connect best when we are talking about meaningful ways to solve problems or sharing anecdotes about our latest success or problem.</p>
<p>We need to help &ldquo;speakers&rdquo; become, and treat them more like, trainers or facilitators to encourage interaction in sessions. We also need to encourage the use of appropriate seating outside session rooms where, during breaks or at times desired, people can share what they learned and make different connections over a shared raised eyebrow in a session. In both instances we have enabled learning and encouraged less loneliness.</p>
<p>What are your experiences and what have you&nbsp;observed at your meetings&mdash;or in your hotels and convention or conference centers&mdash;that have encouraged connections and less loneliness for travelers and meeting participants?</p>
<ul>
<li>When you were a first-timer at a meeting especially when you knew no one or few people, what made you feel welcome?</li>
<li>What&#39;s your reaction&mdash;or that of those who attend your meetings&mdash;to &ldquo;first-timer&rdquo; designations&mdash;stickers or ribbons on badges?</li>
<li>In what ways do you encourage interaction in sessions and at social events? In what ways does it succeed and how is it measured?</li>
<li>If you&#39;ve measured the return to future meetings (or joining or renewing membership) of first-timers or their buying habits based on meaningful versus brief interactions at tradeshows, what did you learn?</li>
<li>And what makes you feel &ldquo;lonely&rdquo; at a meeting and in what ways could our industry and especially our industry associations help alleviate what could lead to a greater health epidemic?</li>
</ul>
<p>Our industry has an opportunity to help people feel less lonely and isolated. Maybe it was &ldquo;bold&rdquo; to suggest we can &ldquo;cure&rdquo; a health crisis but I think we can go a long way to alleviating it in one of aspect of society that touches many.</p>
<p><em>And so &hellip; On October 29, many of us observed the yahrzeit&mdash;anniversary death&mdash;of Rosie Ledesma-Bernaducci, a colleague and friend. Those of you who knew her and the circumstances of her death may believe as I do that loneliness contributed to her suicide. It&rsquo;s that deep loneliness that though one has a smile on their face, and is well-connected and respected, masks a deeper sense of not being connected, truly connected, to others. To her, I dedicate this blog and newsletter in hopes that we can create better connections to solve the issue of loneliness in some way through meetings.</em></p>
<p>For those who would like to respond privately with a comment&nbsp;to be posted anonymously, please email me at <a href="mailto:FridayWithJoan@aol.com?subject=Friday%20With%20Joan%2011.03.17%20Comment">FridayWithJoan@aol.com</a> and I&rsquo;ll post it for you.</p>
<p><em>Editors&#39; Note: The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.meetingstoday.com/newsletters/friday_with_joan/2017_11_03.html" target="_blank"><strong>Click here to view additional content in the 11.03.17 Friday With Joan newsletter.​</strong></a></p>
<div>
<p><strong>Posted by Joan L. Eisenstodt</strong></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/JoanEisenstodt_headshot_ver2.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Follow Joan on Twitter:&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/joaneisenstodt" target="_blank">@joaneisenstodt</a></p>
</div>
311Beyond the Tradeshow - Being Relevant (The Conclusion)https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/270/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-the-conclusionCareer Advice,Education,General,Life-long learning,TradeshowsWed, 13 Jul 2016 22:46:48 GMT<p><span style="line-height: 1.6;">In&nbsp;my previous blog post,&nbsp;we continued our walkthrough of the five main stages of successful selling to planners, discussing&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/269/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-4.aspx" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">the importance of listening and understanding</a><span style="line-height: 1.6;">. Prior to that&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/268/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-3.aspx" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">we focused on research and engagement</a><span style="line-height: 1.6;">. This final post is all about following up.</span></p>
<p><strong>Stage 5 - Respond:</strong></p>
<p>So, you&#39;ve made a connection with a planner&mdash;you have researched, you engaged, listened and understood. Now this is a very important part of the process ...&nbsp;how you respond!</p>
<p><em>STORYTIME:</em> Once upon a time a planner went to IMEX and met up with 100s of suppliers. Some were too big to meet her needs, some were too small, but some, some were just right.</p>
<p>However, one of the &quot;just right&quot; suppliers did just the right thing. Instead of taking her card and saying &quot;I&#39;ll follow-up,&quot; Mr. Just Right Supplier said, &quot;How should I follow up with you&mdash;phone, text, email or Skype?&quot; and, &quot;When is a good time to follow up? Can we set a date right now that works for both of us?&quot; This attitude reflects the active response versus the passive response.</p>
<p>For many planners, if you send a blanket email following the conference along the lines of &quot;It was so great meeting you at the XX conference last Tuesday, please keep me in mind for future opportunities.&quot; The chances of it getting deleted increases greatly. This type of email looks <em>just</em> like the 99,000 others I received on Monday following the conference. And guess what&mdash;I don&#39;t have time to read them all and sort through who sent them.</p>
<p>Following a hosted buyer program or a tradeshow, planners have been inundated with new connections, information and education&mdash;somehow you need to stand out from that following the event. Therefore, by positioning yourself to respond directly, efficiently, and involving the planner in how that response will happen garners you a leg-up on the competition and is the first step in ensuring a potential long-term partnership. I will respond if we made an active connection.</p>
<p>I recently received an email and voicemail message from a registration software company. I received the voicemail first and barely got five seconds into it when I hit delete&mdash;cold call!&nbsp; However, an email showed up and in the subject line it stated &ldquo;Your PCMA Personal Request for Connection.&quot; Now again, I initially thought &quot;cold call,&quot; but I had recently spoke at PCMA and thought maybe it was follow-up from that. And it was...</p>
<p>The email starting line, <em>&quot;When you were at PCMA I attended your session and you stated that you wished more suppliers would reach out to you directly since you are an independent planner&mdash;</em><em>so I am reaching out!&rdquo;&nbsp;</em>She had me. I <em>had</em> said that and I needed to follow-up and keep my word. So I called her back and we are still communicating. I currently don&rsquo;t have any business for the supplier, but her registration company comes to mind first when people ask for suggestions.</p>
<p>Remember to follow-up. There may not be business right away, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean there won&rsquo;t be business later. The key is to stay at the top of the planner radar. Factor the partnership&mdash;how you respond and when you respond should be agreed upon by the two of you.</p>
<p>No cold calling. Agree to it with the planner. Set a date and time if it is a phone call. Also send a reminder a couple days prior to the call. If it is an email, make sure you reference your previous discussion and the agreement to follow-up&mdash;it is smart to put this in the subject line.</p>
<p>The email is also a great opportunity to provide info you think the planner would find useful. If in your previous discussions or interactions you had talked about the CMP or some other topic, share any knowledge you may have learned about it.</p>
<p>Stop selling just the product. Sell to <em>how</em> the product helps the event, supports the event and will ensure the event objectives are met. All of which can be achieved through utilizing the five stages of the selling process.</p>
<p>On a very basic level&mdash;planners are shoppers. And according to Ken Burke, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about relevance to shoppers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>By researching, engaging, listening, understanding and responding&mdash;differently than you used to&mdash;you will achieve the secret of what planners want and become relevant to the planner above all the other &ldquo;noise&rdquo; beyond the tradeshow.</p>
<p>Miss a &quot;Beyond the Tradeshow&quot; blog post? Here are links to <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1.aspx" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" target="_blank">Part 2</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/268/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-3.aspx" target="_blank">Part 3</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/269/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-4.aspx" target="_blank">Part 4</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Posted by Larissa J. Schultz</strong><strong>, CMP, MHA</strong></p>
<p><strong><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/LarissaSchultzCMP_ver2.jpg" /></strong></p>
<p><em>Larissa is a writer, author, and&nbsp;professional speaker in the hospitality industry. She is also an adjunct professor at Glendale Community College teaching in Hospitality and Tourism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Larissa on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarissaJSchultz" target="_blank">@LarissaJSchultz</a><br />
<strong>Visit Larissa&#39;s Website: </strong><a href="http://www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/" target="_blank">www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/</a></p>
<p><strong>Editors&#39; Note:</strong> The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</p>
270Beyond the Tradeshow - Being Relevant (Part 4)https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/269/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-4Career Advice,Education,General,Life-long learning,TradeshowsMon, 13 Jun 2016 20:39:51 GMT<p><span style="line-height: 1.6;">In&nbsp;my last blog post,&nbsp;we began walking through the five main stages which design the process of successful selling to planners. </span><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/268/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-3.aspx" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">Click here for a recap of the discussion on Stages 1 and 2.</a><span style="line-height: 1.6;"> Below we move on to Stages 3 and 4. And then we&#39;ll discuss Stage 5 in the final post in the series.</span></p>
<p><strong>Stage 3 - Listen</strong></p>
<p>We all listen. However, some of us are ACTIVE listeners and some of us are PASSIVE listeners.</p>
<p><em>STORYTIME:</em> A planner was conducting a site of a beautiful resort property for an upcoming incentive program&mdash;over breakfast with both the DOS and the NSM the planner stated &quot;I see you offer yoga on Saturday mornings?&quot; The DOS jumped right on the comment talking about the qualified local yoga instructor who provides the service and the location of where the yoga takes place with the calming beautiful views over the desert in the early morning sun.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The NSM smiled and listened and when the conversation was about to come to a close and move onto another topic, the NSM asked the planner: &quot;Your group seems to be fairly health-conscious do you think a morning yoga session would be something they are interested in? I am sure we can arrange something with the instructor to occur at the resort over your program dates.&quot; The planner thought it was a great idea and it was an idea she hadn&rsquo;t really thought of before this conversation&mdash;she needed the sales person to listen to her and help her realize what she needed.</p>
<p>In both instances the two sales people listened to the planner, but the DOS was listening <strong>passively</strong> and the NSM was listening <strong>actively</strong>&mdash;listening with the intent of hearing what <em>wasn&#39;t</em> being said. The DOS passively continued to sell the property, but not to the planner&#39;s unique need. Many times planners have trouble seeing all the benefits of your product and how it could be used for their program. That is where you come in. That is where the collaboration grows.</p>
<p>Listen with the intent of seeing your property through the planner&#39;s eyes. Through the event&#39;s needs.</p>
<p>How would YOU plan THEIR meeting at YOUR property? With YOUR service, using YOUR software. You should know what you are selling better than anyone and by partnering with the planner, should be able to figure out how you can connect the two and reach success.</p>
<p>Use your knowledge of your product to their advantage and help them fit the program to the property. Provide the solutions to challenges you hear them mention (or what is not being mentioned).</p>
<p>At tradeshows and hosted-buyer programs you have the opportunity to listen to the planner. The key for both is to put the standard sales tools away and hear what they have to say. Listen to what they tell you about the event objectives, the demographics, the event history; and then sell the portions of your product that you think would matter. Not all aspects of your product fit everyone&rsquo;s need. One size does not fit all. But, by listening you begin to understand.</p>
<p><strong>Stage 4 - Understand</strong></p>
<p>There are many different ways understanding comes into play in relation to partnering successfully with planners. Listening leads to the understanding. It is a natural progression&mdash;when you truly listen to someone you can begin to understand them and their needs.</p>
<p>You will quickly understand the event objectives and then relate it to how your product can help meet and achieve those objectives. Make sure, as discussed, that when you &quot;sell&quot; something of the product that it is relevant to who you are speaking with.</p>
<p>It is great that your hotel has new blue duvet cashmere bed covers and they are very beautiful&mdash;but UNDERSTAND I am not buying bedding (I&rsquo;ll go to a department store for that), I am buying a venue that needs to meet the objectives of my business meeting.</p>
<p>Another part of understanding the planner is when you are physically at the tradeshow or hosted buyer program. Understand the planner is more than likely on information overload. By the time the planner gets to your booth space they could be walking zombies. Understand this when you are planning to engage them on the floor. Find out what THEY need!</p>
<p>Think through what you could do to help them. Allow the booth to become the opportunity to form a connection from which a relationship can grow through your engagement. Not just a platform from where you vend your product from.</p>
<p>Stay current on what planners want/need, what they struggle with as well as new industry trends. AV companies and design groups do really well with this and in a lot of instances help set those industry trends for the planners. Once you understand what planners are focused on approach your pitch to meet their current challenge or current want for their program&mdash;we are always looking for someone or something that can easily make our work better and easier.</p>
<p>Next month &ndash; the final stage. Here are links to <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1.aspx" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" target="_blank">Part 2</a> and <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/268/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-3.aspx" target="_blank">Part 3</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Posted by Larissa J. Schultz</strong><strong>, CMP, MHA</strong></p>
<p><strong><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/LarissaSchultzCMP_ver2.jpg" /></strong></p>
<p><em>Larissa is a writer, author, and&nbsp;professional speaker in the hospitality industry. She is also an adjunct professor at Glendale Community College teaching in Hospitality and Tourism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Larissa on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarissaJSchultz" target="_blank">@LarissaJSchultz</a><br />
<strong>Visit Larissa&#39;s Website: </strong><a href="http://www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/" target="_blank">www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/</a></p>
<p><strong>Editors&#39; Note:</strong> The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</p>
269Beyond the Tradeshow - Being Relevant (Part 3)https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/268/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-3Career Advice,Education,General,Life-long learning,TradeshowsMon, 16 May 2016 21:51:09 GMT<p><span style="line-height: 1.6;">As mentioned </span><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">in my last blog post</a><span style="line-height: 1.6;">&mdash;we are going to walk through the five main stages which design the process of successful selling to planners. We&#39;ll start with Stages 1 and 2 in this discussion. Then move on to Stages 3 and 4 next month. The five stages of selling are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Research Stage.</li>
<li>Engagement Stage.</li>
<li>Listening Stage.</li>
<li>Understanding Stage.</li>
<li>Responding Stage.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Stage 1 - Research</strong></p>
<p>I learned early in order to succeed you need to prepare and in order to prepare you need to research.</p>
<p>For both tradeshows and hosted buyer programs&nbsp;<em>pre-planning will increase productivity</em>. Researching who will be in attendance by reviewing the attendee list is invaluable. You need to target your customers and focus on who you intend to meet.</p>
<p>When planners go to these programs&mdash;we look at who is going to be there. What suppliers are there? What do I need for my upcoming meeting? What do I need for future meetings I&#39;m planning? We research the list, determine who we need to meet with, as well as, who we want to gather initial information from. We set our appointments based on our needs, some immediate, some long term.</p>
<p>Therefore, during YOUR research you should ask yourself&mdash;Who do I want to connect with? Who am I interested in getting to know? Make sure to determine if&nbsp; you are focusing on corporate planners, association planners, government planners or independents planners, etc. Create a target market.</p>
<p>Finally, during the research stage,&nbsp;<em>qualify</em>&nbsp;your planners. Do what planners do with suppliers. Reach out to fellow colleagues or industry forums inquiring if anyone has done business with a certain planner or organization. Spend time on the planner organization&rsquo;s website. Inquire and research.</p>
<p>Remember&mdash;just as planners understand not every supplier is for them&mdash;not every planner is for you. Categorize the businesses you are seeking to engage.</p>
<p><strong>Stage 2 - Engagement</strong></p>
<p>Unless you have true engagement you cannot move on to any of the other stages.</p>
<p>With your research you will begin to know about the company, the events and possibly the planner you are interested in meeting. When planners first meet you we are trying to gain an initial understanding of who and what you are, how we might be able to work together, and ensuring you understand my piece of business is different from everyone else&#39;s&mdash;one size does not fit all in the planner mind. I am not just another planner that you can sell to,&nbsp;I want you to engage me not because you want to sell to me but because you want to partner with me and create something with me&mdash;an event.</p>
<p>If we create this initial engagement , it will become clear as we move through the other stages that you (your venue, your product, your design, your software, etc.,) is relevant to what I need&mdash;what my event needs.</p>
<p>So how do you engage? There are many different ways. Here are a few examples:</p>
<p>1. Staff your tradeshow booth with non-sales people&mdash;what?! I know, right?</p>
<ul>
<li>Bring in your designer of your new renovation, new app, or new design element&mdash;they are the ones who can truly explain and describe the &quot;NEW&quot; in the new product. And how fun to meet the person whose passion is behind the creation.</li>
<li>Bring in your CSM or Project Manager&mdash;the person who will be face-to-face on-site with the client. Sell the team that will be working&nbsp;<em>for</em>&nbsp;them and ensuring a successful event.</li>
</ul>
<p>2. Don&#39;t waste your money on mass mailings to the entire attendee database. Instead target those who you are seeking to attract. If you go the route of a pre-mailing or email make sure it is something that stands out. Do you even know how many notifications one planner gets before IMEX that states &ldquo;Stop by Booth XXX to win an iPad&rdquo; or &ldquo;Learn about [insert venue, country, AV provider, etc.]&rdquo;? One year I counted over 116 emails and fliers, before I stopped counting and just hit the delete button or tossed into the recycle bin. Put that budget money into something more productive.</p>
<p>3. Education, education, education. Planners like to be educated. Many times, the education at the event is an ability to acquire CEU credits for CMP certification (or recertification) and is one of the main reasons we are able to get support to attend the event or choose to take time away from our work to attend. Education sessions is where you will find planners.</p>
<ul>
<li>Attend the educational sessions. This allows you the opportunity to engage with the planners within the session and after to talk about the session.</li>
<li>See if your organization would be interested in sponsoring an education session or a speaker for the event. Again, gets you in front of the planners.</li>
<li>Can you bring education INTO your booth? One that might garner CEU credits? Is there a current hot topic planners are focused on that you could provide an opportunity for planners to engage and discuss or learn about the topic? Some current hot topics planners are concerned with include risk management/crisis management planning, new technologies and justification of planner positions within organizations.</li>
<li>Participate in a roundtable discussion. Volunteer with the conference organizers to see if there are opportunities for this. Or design a senior planner roundtable discussion. Senior planners love to get together and talk about being senior planners. We love to brainstorm new ideas/new initiatives&mdash;ask our opinion. Get our feedback. Get us together&mdash;we&rsquo;ll thank you for it and we may also become a champion for your brand or you as the supplier within the industry.</li>
</ul>
<p>By being engaging planners outside your booth you can begin to focus on what the planner needs and start to Listen (Stage 3)...</p>
<p><em>(Next month: Part 4 - Stages 3 and 4 of the Selling Process). Here are links to <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1.aspx" target="_blank">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" target="_blank">Part 2</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Posted by Larissa J. Schultz</strong><strong>, CMP, MHA</strong></p>
<p><strong><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/LarissaSchultzCMP_ver2.jpg" /></strong></p>
<p><em>Larissa is a writer, author, and&nbsp;professional speaker in the hospitality industry. She is also an adjunct professor at Glendale Community College teaching in Hospitality and Tourism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Larissa on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarissaJSchultz" target="_blank">@LarissaJSchultz</a><br />
<strong>Visit Larissa&#39;s Website: </strong><a href="http://www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/" target="_blank">www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/</a></p>
<p><strong>Editors&#39; Note:</strong> The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</p>
268Beyond the Tradeshow - Being Relevant (Part 2)https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2Career Advice,Education,General,Meeting Planning 101,Tradeshows,Value of meetingsMon, 25 Apr 2016 20:25:57 GMT<p>If you are like me, you like to think you are in tune with what is going on in the world. And we probably are, but are you in tune with how you are communicating? How the information you are sharing is being received? How you are engaging others to &ldquo;buy&rdquo; into what you are &ldquo;selling&rdquo;? OR are you just selling, sharing the info and communicating the way you always do, and engaging the way you you&rsquo;ve always done it&mdash;hoping some of it will &ldquo;stick&rdquo; and a planner will buy?</p>
<p>And, of course, this is all related to <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1.aspx" target="_blank">&quot;knowing your audience&quot; and being relevant to them</a>.</p>
<p>The world is moving at a faster pace&mdash;by the time you learn one way of communicating a new way comes out. Mail and phone moved to fax, which moved to email, moving to Blackberry (the old style where all you got were emails), to iPhones and smartphones, to Skype and Facetime, to Androids and tablets, to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. All available in our office, in our home, in our car, on a plane, on the move, on and on and on....</p>
<p>It&#39;s dizzying to think about. Consider the fact the iPhone was invented in 2007&mdash;we haven&#39;t even celebrated its 10 year anniversary! All of these tools and apps allow us not only to communicate in many different ways and functions, but allow us to share information and to engage differently.</p>
<p>In addition, we are now at a point in our society where multiple generations are in the work space at the same time and they each have different ways and preferences in communicating. One size does not fit all. For some planners you need to meet in person, for others they just want email, and others prefer texting; while some enjoy being face-to-face using technology such as Skype.</p>
<p>You need to fine-tune your style to the individual to be relevant to them.</p>
<p>More information is now readily accessible. Who doesn&rsquo;t have a website anymore? And on those websites who posts pictures of past events, pictures of their venue, highlights their clients they work with or have worked with on these sites? Planners look at this information.</p>
<p>By the time planners get to you they have already self-educated themselves on your property, your services, and if you post your previous clients online, they might have already reached out to them for references. They may have compared reviews from various people&mdash;reached out to an industry forum to ask, &ldquo;Have you ever worked with company XYZ?&rdquo; Reached out to colleagues asking, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for a good AV company in Columbus?&rdquo;, &ldquo;Can anyone recommend a local decor company in Phoenix?&rdquo;&mdash;all without you even being aware that&nbsp;<em>you</em>&nbsp;are being considered.</p>
<p>The main reason for this? Planners are trying to save time and create greater efficiencies for themselves and it&#39;s your job to recognize this and respond accordingly.</p>
<p>As a result, fine-tuning how you communicate and share information is one key to your success which you can easily incorporate into the five stages of selling.</p>
<p>What are the five stages of selling you ask? Research, Engagement, Listening, Understanding, and Responding; all of which, when incorporated together, create the potential for greater sales. All of which we will begin to discuss in the next blog post.</p>
<p><em>(Next month: Part 3 - The First of the 5 Stages of Selling). Miss Part 1? <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1.aspx" target="_blank">Check it out here.</a></em></p>
<p><strong>Posted by Larissa J. Schultz</strong><strong>, CMP, MHA</strong></p>
<p><strong><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/LarissaSchultzCMP_ver2.jpg" /></strong></p>
<p><em>Larissa is a writer, author, and&nbsp;professional speaker in the hospitality industry. She is also an adjunct professor at Glendale Community College teaching in Hospitality and Tourism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Larissa on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarissaJSchultz" target="_blank">@LarissaJSchultz</a><br />
<strong>Visit Larissa&#39;s Website: </strong><a href="http://www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/" target="_blank">www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/</a></p>
<p><strong>Editors&#39; Note:</strong> The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</p>
2626 Ways to Change Meetingshttps://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/271/6-ways-to-change-meetingsAudio Visual,Convention Centers,Diversity & Inclusion,Life-long learning,TradeshowsMon, 21 Mar 2016 17:40:23 GMT<p>I know I&rsquo;m cranky about the meetings and hospitality industry. I&rsquo;ve worked, sometimes labored, for 40+ years (yes, of course, I started when I was 5 years old with the first event I did: a fundraiser for polio) to make it better and I&nbsp;<em>still</em>&nbsp;experience, hear and see the same old stuff.</p>
<p>People have said to me, &ldquo;Just be patient.&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><strong>What</strong></em>&nbsp;does that even mean?!</p>
<p>I write and teach lots about risk and about ethics. Those are increasingly important and I&rsquo;ll continue to discuss those. Right now, I&rsquo;m frustrated by meetings that are little different than they were years ago and by people talking about some of the things they&#39;ve just discovered that I and others instituted a long time ago ... and as if they were brand new. It&#39;s just that adaptation hasn&#39;t happened, so it&nbsp;<em>appears</em>&nbsp;they might be new.</p>
<p>My friend,&nbsp;Paul Radde, Ph.D., author of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thrival.com/store" target="_blank"><em>Seating Matters: State of the Art Seating Arrangements</em></a>,&nbsp;and I have had many long talks about why&nbsp;meeting room sets remain the same. Others, like&nbsp;Lisa Heft,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.openingspace.net/" target="_blank">involved in the Open Space movement</a>, have worked to use this concept. Sheesh &quot;Open Space,&quot; still unknown to many, was a concept since&nbsp;<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/brief_history.htm" target="_blank">Harrison Owen coined the term in 1985</a>.&nbsp;TED and TEDX are now models for many&mdash;just as &quot;talk-show style&quot; was (and is) popular.</p>
<p>Jeff Hurt&nbsp;writes about all this&nbsp;<a href="http://velvetchainsaw.com/" target="_blank">on his blog</a>&nbsp;and has been instrumental with PCMA and others in making some changes at meetings. And&nbsp;Jeffrey Cufaude&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ideaarchitects.org/" target="_blank">writes more about participatory meetings</a>&nbsp;in his blogs, which are certainly worth a read and discussion.</p>
<p>I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to have clients willing to experiment, who have met great success with said experimentation&mdash;albeit with some trepidation prior to the execution of the changes ... even simply with room and delivery designs, or helping speakers learn different ways of incorporating experiential learning on the tradeshow floor and in session rooms; adding creative and relaxing places outside the sessions where meeting participants can share ideas and determine solutions to their dilemmas in comfortable, convenient space.</p>
<p>Why are we not seeing more changes? Some of it is because hotels, convention and conference centers have not been brought into the conversations (Uh huh,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/259/planners-v-suppliers-why-cant-we-all-learn-together.aspx" target="_blank">I&rsquo;ve written about the division of how we treat industry vendors</a>&nbsp;and have said that with Hosted Buyer and other design elements, kept suppliers from learning&nbsp;<em>with us</em>&nbsp;versus primarily providing funding and spaces). How can they know about all the cool possibilities if we keep them out of learning? They have not been involved in learning how and why their spaces and policies interfere with productive meeting learning or how, themselves, to learn in different ways.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Recently in an online discussion about &ldquo;mindful meetings,&quot; I was frustrated with the lack of understanding of incorporating people with different abilities. Isn&rsquo;t the ADA now 25 years old and shouldn&rsquo;t we all know that not everyone can stand or walk or wave their arms?</p>
<p>With thanks to Lisa Heft and others, one of the norms of operating Open Space was changed from &ldquo;The law of two feet&rdquo;&mdash;meaning if the session is not working for you, you may leave&mdash;to the &ldquo;Law of Motion and Responsibility&rdquo; since not everyone has or can use two feet. Or a lack of sensitivity about those from other cultures for whom some of the interactivity may go against cultural (or religious) norms.<img alt="Bad Meeting Setup" src="/Portals/0/Blog/2016/BadMeetingSetup_blog.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; height: 333px;" /></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s astounding to me that meeting spaces, primarily rooms, are created in brand-new or renovated facilities that have lights, without controls to turn&nbsp;<em>just those</em>&nbsp;off over where a screen would be placed. Why do AV companies still insist on turning lights down for presentations? Turning lights down means people can&rsquo;t see to take notes, can&rsquo;t see each other to connect by noting when someone reacts to a point made so that you can connect later, and less lighting is unsafe (<em>speaking of unwise meeting setups, check up the image I snapped at recent event on the right</em><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><em>&mdash;yikes!</em>)</span>.</p>
<p>Recently, at&nbsp;<a href="https://tradeshowz.com/exhibitor" target="_blank">ExhibitorLive</a>, I heard some heartening news from participants in a session I facilitated (&ldquo;Beyond Logistics: Principles, Practices and Play&rdquo; which is designed to help people see and experience different sets and methods of delivery and interaction). A corporation with a new CEO was redesigning the &quot;state of the company&quot; session to be interactive because the CEO said he wasn&rsquo;t a &quot;talk at you&quot; person.</p>
<p>Others who attended said they would take away from the session ways to increase interaction and interest just by changing the view when people walked in (We used multiple styles of seating in the room including crescents, high-boys and cocktail tables).&nbsp;Look, not everyone can make wholesale changes in their meetings. Just changing a few things can make a difference in how people perceive what will happen, changing their brains from the start.</p>
<p>This list is by far not inclusive. It&rsquo;s a start. Add your ideas to the comments please, and share this with your vendor (hotel, convention center, conference center, AV providers) partners.</p>
<p><strong>1.&nbsp;Design with the audience in mind.</strong>&nbsp;One hour or shorter sessions are now in vogue. With those are breaks of 15 or fewer minutes. Not all participants are the same in their ability to learn and most of us want, after a session, to talk with the event facilitator (aka presenter) and others who participated and then use a restroom, get a bite to eat, maybe check email, and get to another session. In 15 minutes, it&rsquo;s almost impossible to do so.</p>
<p>With no time to process what&#39;s been learned, we&rsquo;re likely to not retain it. With no time for peer-to-peer learning (aka &quot;networking&quot;), we are not given opportunities to exchange ideas to increase our retention and use of information.</p>
<p><strong>2. Change room sets</strong>&nbsp;<strong>for better sightlines, interactivity and comfort.</strong>&nbsp;Paul Radde&rsquo;s book* has lots of great examples that are acceptable to hotels because they are &quot;known sets&quot; (theatre, schoolroom, crescents) done differently. Think about how people behave in meetings&mdash;sitting at the back (because they&rsquo;re afraid they&rsquo;ll be &quot;called on,&quot; or know they need to leave or are afraid they will want to leave&mdash;&ldquo;law of motion and responsibility&rdquo;&mdash;and don&rsquo;t want to disturb others.</p>
<p>Lots of aisles, lots of space for those who need interpreters or who use a mobility device, all contribute to inclusion and learning.</p>
<p>Even changing from straight theatre or schoolroom to herringbone, with more aisles, will change the perspective of those who enter the room. We can create environments that delight and encourage our brains and bodies to think differently from the minute we walk in.</p>
<p><strong>3. Provide&nbsp;</strong>to hotels, conference and convention centers (you do know there&rsquo;s a difference, right?!) or other meeting venues&nbsp;<strong>the rationale&mdash;</strong><strong>the&nbsp;<em>why</em>&mdash;for different use of space.</strong>&nbsp;Yes, you may have to pay for more space and yes, you may be able to negotiate the charges differently. And it will be worth it if the outcomes can be better measured for how people participate.</p>
<p><strong>4. Call presenters or speakers &ldquo;facilitators&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;<strong>for some sessions</strong>&nbsp;<em>and</em>&nbsp;help them learn to incorporate interaction. &ldquo;Q&amp;A at the end&rdquo; is still prevalent and doesn&rsquo;t allow people to think, or aural learners (like me) to talk out loud about what the issues they are trying to solve are&nbsp;<em>at the time a point is made</em>. It can be done without disrupting the flow of a session with the right training for those presenting or facilitating.</p>
<p>In addition to training, there are costs involved to provide wireless handheld mics and &quot;runners&quot; to ensure that what is said by participants is heard by the session facilitator and others. There is new technology that allows mics to be thrown about or for us to use our mobile devices. Once you commit to having interactivity&nbsp;<em>for some but not all sessions&nbsp;</em>you can then negotiate the support.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>5. Set norms for meeting behavior.&nbsp;</strong>In many cases, if one is to earn CEUs, a meeting participant must stay in the room for the session length. And still, one has biological and other needs! Giving people explicit permission to behave as they need to&mdash;as long as it&rsquo;s not disruptive to others&mdash;makes a huge difference in perception and participation. My norms,&nbsp;<em>in addition to providing, at the start, the location of emergency exits and restrooms</em>, are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Question assumptions.</li>
<li>Put yourself in someone else&rsquo;s place.</li>
<li>Set mobile devices that sing/ring/etc. on silent please. S<em>ocial media use is encouraged.</em></li>
<li>Don&#39;t forget about &ldquo;Motion and Responsibility.&quot;</li>
<li>Please: No audio or video recording or photos of slides and session.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>6. Include creativity.&nbsp;</strong>Years ago, Disney Institute provided, at industry meetings, spaces for specific sessions or between sessions where participants could go and relax, blow bubbles and play while processing what we heard or prepare our minds for what we were about to hear. Stumbling into their space was a refreshing change of pace after a long day of pretty traditional (straight rows, speakers talking at us) sessions.</p>
<p>I was part of a session where, at the start, we were asked to take off our shoes (optional of course), put our heads down on our arms on the tables, and listen to a story.</p>
<p>I bring &quot;creative stuff&quot; (ModelMagic, WikkiStix, Magic Springs, crayons or colored pencils,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fundraising.com/products/smencils/all-smencils/smart-smencils" target="_blank">Smart (peppermint scented) Smencils</a>, and more) and place the items on&nbsp;the tables or in a location from which they can be accessed by all.&nbsp;&ldquo;When one&rsquo;s hands are engaged, one&rsquo;s brain is more engaged.&quot; Don&rsquo;t force people to sit and just listen unless that&rsquo;s how they learn. Give people options in session rooms and in other areas.</p>
<p>We can implement what are, for many, small changes. We don&rsquo;t have to accept what has always been done as the only way to conduct meetings. We have to commit to creating different ways of learning and participating that looks different to wake up brains that are expecting the same things that have always been delivered and thus tune out before a session even begins.</p>
<p>Will you commit? And how?</p>
<p>*I wrote the foreword for Paul&rsquo;s book,&nbsp;<em>Seating Matters</em>, for which I was not paid nor am I compensated for promoting (as is the case with all of Paul&#39;s work and training). I wish more meeting venues would invite him in to train sales, convention services, and set-up staff in how to make our meetings work better.</p>
<p><em>As always the views expressed are my own and may not reflect those of Meetings Today or Stamats. You can respond to this below in the comments section or by emailing me at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:FridaywithJoan@aol.com?subject=6%20Ways%20to%20Change%20Meetings%20(Blog%20Follow-up)">FridaywithJoan@aol.com</a>, especially if you want your comments to be posted anonymously.</em></p>
<p>And if you have not provided your Strengths for our study of the strengths of meeting professionals,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/267/working-smarter-with-strengths.aspx" target="_blank">please do so here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Posted by Joan L. Eisenstodt</strong></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/JoanEisenstodt_headshot_ver2.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Follow Joan on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/joaneisenstodt" target="_blank">@joaneisenstodt</a></p>
271Beyond the Tradeshow - Being Relevant (Part 1)https://www.meetingstoday.com/blog/postid/261/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-1Career Advice,Education,Meeting Planning 101,Tradeshows,Value of meetingsWed, 02 Mar 2016 21:15:10 GMT<p>On a very fundamental level,&nbsp;planners are shoppers. And according to Ken Burke, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about relevance to shoppers.&rdquo;&nbsp;Here&#39;s the thing though&mdash;planners don&#39;t want to be &quot;sold to.&quot; They want to collaborate with their supplier partners and they want to be educated.</p>
<p>Can we just stop selling the product and sell to the program? Sell to the objectives of the event and you might find yourself with a lot more sales!</p>
<p>For many planners it&#39;s not necessarily the location or the brand-new audiovisual equipment design being launched in Q2 or about the energy efficiencies of the motor coaches&mdash;at least not in the beginning. So try to quit swiping through the pictures on your iPad when you first meet planners at tradeshows and hosted buyer programs.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Engage planners on the human level. Engage the event as a unique piece of business.</p>
<p>Now, some will disagree and say,&nbsp;&quot;...but the locations, the condition of the equipment do matter to the planner.&quot; And you are right, to a point. It is part of the all-encompassing determination of the final decision. Nevertheless, isn&#39;t it more important that you understand who you are selling to before you start selling?</p>
<p>The iPad is mentioned because I see this so many times over and over again at tradeshows&mdash;pictures of swimming pools, fitness centers, king rooms, lounges, porte cochère&#39;s, corner king suites, etc. Don&#39;t get me wrong, the pictures look nice; however what it doesn&rsquo;t do is <em>engage</em> me. It is very two-dimensional and is essentially identical to information on your website.</p>
<p>At this point in our current society we have the ability to fine-tune how we interact with friends, families, work colleagues, and with each other. Information is readily at our fingertips and we can quickly gain information for ourselves on each other prior to even meeting in person. How many of you have done an internet search, or LinkedIn profile review, on an individual you are going to be working or meeting with?</p>
<p>Because this information is so accessible, planners are becoming more specific on what they need and what they want&nbsp;<em>and</em>&nbsp;more educated on what companies can provide (or presuming what can be provided). In turn they are expecting you, the supplier, to fine-tune how you interact with them. Be educated on your business, be educated on their business, and understand that one size does not fit all. Suppliers with their glossy images and renovated buildings are missing a great opportunity at these tradeshows to really get beyond the tradeshow.</p>
<p>The tradeshow is just the first part of the relationship&mdash;there are further steps.</p>
<p>In a five-part blog post, I am going to utilize this platform as a way to provide some education on what I think suppliers should consider in order to be more significant to planners, to potentially grow your business, as well as better meeting your clients needs.</p>
<p>What <em>used</em> to happen has to change. The standard tradeshow format has morphed and changed due to a need, in some cases it has been replaced by the hosted buyer program which can be more effective but at the same time has become more diluted with the quantity of them available, as well as the various different qualification requirements for each one. The way suppliers sell needs to change to to reduce the dilution and&nbsp;ensure stand out suppliers.</p>
<p>So how do you stand out? How do you ensure your information is well received? How do you guarantee you can connect with the right people to ensure success?&nbsp;How do you move &quot;Beyond the Tradeshow&quot; ... here&#39;s a hint, it&#39;s not about the selling&mdash;it&#39;s about being relevant.</p>
<p><em>(Next month: <a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" target="_blank">Beyond the Tradeshow Part 2 -&nbsp;</a></em><em><a href="http://www.meetingstoday.com/Blog/TabId/330/PostId/262/beyond-the-tradeshow-being-relevant-part-2.aspx" target="_blank">Getting In Tune With Your Communication</a>).</em></p>
<p><strong>Posted by Larissa J. Schultz</strong><strong>, CMP, MHA</strong></p>
<p><strong><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Blog/LarissaSchultzCMP_ver2.jpg" /></strong></p>
<p><em>Larissa is a writer, author, and&nbsp;professional speaker in the hospitality industry. She is also an adjunct professor at Glendale Community College teaching in Hospitality and Tourism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Larissa on Twitter: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarissaJSchultz" target="_blank">@LarissaJSchultz</a><br />
<strong>Visit Larissa&#39;s Website: </strong><a href="http://www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/" target="_blank">www.ljsmeetingstrategies.com/</a></p>
<p><strong>Editors&#39; Note:</strong> The views expressed by contributing bloggers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meetings Today or its parent company.</p>
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